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Natalie Grant “In Better Hands”

Scripture

“King Solomon was wiser and richer than all the kings of the earth – he surpassed them all. People came from all over the world to be with Solomon and drink in the wisdom God had given him. And everyone who came brought gifts – artifacts of gold and silver, fashionable robes and gowns, the latest in weapons, exotic spices, and horses and mules – parades of visitors, year after year” (1 Kings 10:23-25).

“King Solomon was obsessed with women Solomon openly defied God; he did not follow in his father David’s footsteps. He went on to build a sacred shrine to Chemosh, the horrible god of Moab, and to Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites, on a hill just east of Jerusalem. He built similar shrines for all his foreign wives, who then polluted the countryside with the smoke and stench of their sacrifices. God was furious with Solomon for abandoning the God of Israel, the God who had twice appeared to him and had so clearly commanded him not to fool around with other gods. Solomon faithlessly disobeyed God’s orders.” (1 Kings 11:1-10).

Observation

Clarke Gable was the success story of early Hollywood with many fawning admirers. A friend had stopped by his home for a visit with her little boy. While Gable chatted, her small son played with toy cars on the carpet. His imaginary race track looped in f igure eights around the feet of a grand statue. The figurine the child had pulled into his little game was none other than the Oscar that Clarke Gable recently won for his 1934 performance in “It Happened One Night.” On his way out the door the little rascal tugged on Gable’s coat and asked, “Can I have this?” His horrified mother saw her son pointing to the golden statuette. She scolded him, “Put that down at once young man!” But Clarke Gable soothed her anger. He pressed the gold award into the boy’s hands and said, “”Having the Oscar around doesn’t mean anything to me; earning it does.” The actor seemed to know that past success can be a comfortable hammock upon which he may be tempted to rest, rather than a springboard launching him to the next level.

King Solomon’s life was so successful that he had all the chimpanzees, peacocks and women that a man could want. But unlike Clarke Gable, Solomon lost sight of why he had them. Everything came to Solomon delivered and paid for. But King Solomon forgot why. It was not because of Solomon but because of the wisdom God had given him. His eyes were diverted from the Giver to his gifts until the gifts became an end in themselves. He forgot the process of earning wisdom while enjoying the fruits of wisdom.

Application

The world’s richest man is not one who has everything but one who remembers clearly when he did not. The Sam Waltons of this world scouting out a billion dollar empires in an beatup pick up are by far the worlds richest men because they never have forgotten their beginnings.

No matter how life escalates I need to keep returning to origins. And when life returns to origins I need to rejoice in the reminder of where all has come from.

Prayer
Father, apes, peacocks and women and more could pull me from you. Help me to remember always where I have come from and the process that has brought me to where I am. Let success be safe with me when you test me with that trial. Amen.